Cartoons from the Zeitgeist

Over the last year or so my son Tom and I have been collaborating on a big batch of gag cartoons – Tom wrote the ideas in New York City, between working at NYU and doing frequent standup in clubs and bars, and sent them over to me here in Bucks County, where I drew them up when I had time. I’m happy to announce that we’ve finally assembled them into a book titled Zeitgeist Meetup, and we’ll be signing copies at The Mercantile, 444 N. Main Street, Doylestown, on Sunday, December 11 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Tom’s humor has a young, New York-type viewpoint, with some ideas coming from his everyday experiences in the city doing improv comedy, some reflecting his standup style of wordplay and visual puns, and a few short-story cartoons like “Bushwick Self-Defense,” “The In-Convenience Store,” and “The Kool Aid Spectrum.” Our book riffs on lots of topics that are in the ‘zeitgeist’ right now— from food trucks to Bigfoot to crickets to Elvis – all just for fun. We want people to laugh!

Tom has been involved in comedy for over 15 years, leading an improv comedy group when he attended Holicong Middle School and CB East, continuing through college at American University and comedy clubs around Washington DC, and now in NYC.

I’ll also mention that two of my latest New Yorker magazine cartoons have been chosen to be in the “2023 New Yorker Day-to-Day Calendar,” which I’ll have there at the Mercantile on display, and I’ll have some of my humorous holiday greeting cards for sale too, so I hope you can come and say hello!

There is plenty of convenient parking at the Mercantile since it’s right in the Doylestown Shopping Center, in the space where BonTon used to be. The Mercantile is a collaborative store that showcases creative small businesses, so there is a ton of great gift items to browse after you’ve chatted with Tom and me – they have beautiful housewares, accessories, vintage items, baked goods, furniture, jewelry, gifts for men and adorable stuffed animals for kids. There are even places to sit down and have a snack when you’re tired of shopping – you can’t beat that!

Zeitgeist Meetup sells for $12.95, and if you can’t make it on December 11 but you want a copy, just let me know. And if you went to CB East with Tom or were in his improv group, please just stop by to say hi, we’d love to see you!

Illustrated Promo for a Comedy Show

I’ve written a couple times before about my son Tom doing standup in NYC, after his day job is over. He and a friend are putting together a lineup of comedians they know, to fill an evening at a bar in the Bowery called Von, and Tom asked me to produce a graphic for advertising purposes. I quickly sketched him and Meghan Frank, who will emcee the night, and redrew them on the computer using the mouse, for a deliberately chunky,  quirky style.

Luckily they both have bold elements to their ‘looks,’ so even without facial details these caricatures are recognizable!

Magazine Illustration: Hotels & College Towns

My newest illustration assignment for Lodging Magazine accompanies an article aimed at developers in the hospitality industry, about some key points to keep in mind when choosing locations for new hotel.

The article explains that many chains realize the value of bringing hotels to college towns, since the football season brings so many out-of-towners that need accommodations; but there are other considerations before the developer should seal the deal, which the article describes more in depth. For the illustration I pitched a few ideas to the editor, involving cheerleaders, graduates in caps and gowns, and college fairs. Then I was talking to my son Tom, who does improv comedy several nights a week in NYC at Reckless Theatre, about the topic and asked him if there was some funnier angle to it – and he quickly hit on the best image of all – college football team mascots.

When I suggested this to the editor she immediately liked it, so I got onto the sketch.  I googled images of college mascots and chose several that looked distinctly different, then sketched them barging into a hotel developers’ office, begging her to pick their town.

and a color markered sketch, where I added in a pennant & megaphone to reinforce the college idea:

The editor approved it with a few gestural changes, and so I painted the final:

I sincerely thank my son for his idea! By doing improv he has developed skills that lead him to generate really fast, funny, visual scenarios!

 

 

 

Clown Boy Logo

My son has been performing improv comedy since middle school, and he recently teamed up with another talented friend to form a 2-man improv group called Clown Boy.

I am always amazed when my husband and I attend these improv shows, how these actors can take a spontaneous phrase suggested by the audience and build an entire short play from it, with plenty of laughs.  My son Tom has explained some of the ideas they use in rehearsal to set up scenes, find cues as to where the action is heading, and heighten the humorous situations that develop – but I still think I could never do it off the top of my head like they do!

The guys needed a logo for when they appear at local venues in NYC and comedy festivals, so we worked together on a concept. They suggested a design a bit like the traditional comedy/tragedy masks, but using their faces with some clown facepaint added.  They sent me headshots, and I started with a pencil sketch of each of them.

I made a scan of the sketch and colored it in roughly with colored pencil, picked a few typefaces for them to choose, and sent them the mockup below. 

They requested a few changes – a different typeface and some variations on the clown facepaint. For the finish I redrew the heads a bit tighter using a Faber Castell felt tip, scanned those drawings onto an MS Publisher page and colorized them with the program, using the typeface they chose.

The final logo is below.  They plan to brand their videos and online presence with it, and I’m looking forward to the next time my husband and I can catch Michael Bird and Tom Achilles in an improv show in NYC!

The DC CouchCast Logo

My son has performed in improv comedy for years now in Washington and he and a buddy have recently started a podcast highlighting DC comedians and giving news about upcoming comedy happenings.  I just finished the logo for them, below.  (If you want to listen, it’s on SoundCloud, under dccouchcast – I recommend Episode 4, an interview, with Topher Bellavia).